Aqeel Taahir Ash-Shakoor was born in Murfreesboro, NC. He co-starred on Chicago Med Season 4 as Shrapnel Man and Season 7 as FBI Agent Russo. Aqeel is also known for A League of Their Own (Comedy Series) as Pastor Donald Turner, and The Staircase (HBO Max) as State Police 2. Aqeel plays James Farmer in the John Ridley directed "Shirley," based on the life of Shirley Chisholm, played by Regina King. In 2019, Aqeel landed his first two lead role feature films, the faith-based "Turn of The Cheek" (Amazon Prime, Urban Flix TV) as Thomas Green; "Cain and Abel" an upbeat edgy drama (Amazon Prime, SDM Flix) as Willie. He then settled into the lead role as Jumanji, in the ever adventurous "Jumanji: Level One project Directed by Lance Kawas. Aqeel has also gone on to film more feature films in supporting roles, "He Played Me," (Tubi) as Pastor Robert Brown; "Hayseed" as a Correction Officer; "On Sacred Ground," as Frank; and "Tina-N-Lori," (Tubio), as he played the straightforward Detective Byrons.